No knock on Derek Fisher..he is the Only one leading by Example..I see them Laughing on the bench having a good time..making Jokes.. do that on your own time NOT during a game..just because your in the finals last year doesn't mean you have a free ticket back to the finals and doesn't give you the right to disrespect the other team all that does is give them a reason to want to come back and beat you.I'm one of the biggest Kobe Bryant fan..Laker fan..on the planet but Folks the leaders of this team Minus D fish are not focused..Kobe Bryant needs to stop taking threes and drive to the basket he has been missing.,.from out side as of late his percentage from three is horrible I do expect that to improve but as of now he needs to drive and kick to the shooters I'm glad Fish stepped up and wrote on the white board someone had too.

mark my words you guys can say we can beat Boston but if this team is not focused we will lose by 30 Boston is no joke.. we need the Kobe Bryant that is hard on the team.. even if he has to play the bad guy sometimes so be it. it will make the team better and I guarantee we will see a change in the team this team needs to be a championship team that wants it so far I see a goofy team that is not focused..yes 17-2 is a good record but we aint playing for that we all know what we want and I think we all would agree we are playing for June for that Championship. and to do that we need to be focused and have that swagger. something we had in the playoffs minus the finals. and Yes I still think our missing peace was Bynum now that we have Drew lets go full speed ahead no excuse not too this season.
but to do that we have to stay focused and have that killer instinct

Btw, Kobe is shooting bad at 3% because he is not shooting that much 3's. The less you shoot, the lower % you get, that's a fact.

The less you shoot the higher you will shoot. Proof:Kobe from 3: 15-52Ariza From 3: 8-29...higher than KobeFarmar from 3: 15-41...higher than KobeSasha from 3:16-44....higher than KobeLamar from 3: 7-16...higher than KobeKobe has the lowest 3 point % on the team besides Luke

(stats not including tonight's 3's except for Kobe's)Fisher and Vlad who have shot the most 3's on the team DO have a higest percentages on the team, but Kobe is shooting 25.5% from 3 point range, even if he make 12 out of the next 12 shots from 3, he wouldn't have the highest percentage, although shooting the second most 3's on the team.

no..when its a blow out your supposed to stay humble and respect the other team...we haven't been consistent on D we where up by 20 if the Bucks shot better they would have made it a game

Have you watched the Lakers and other teams? That is not uncommon. Teams joke all the time on the bench; the Lakers are not immune to this. I've seen us do that for YEARS; I've seen other teams in the league do that for years. That's just nitpicking. They were respectful when they didn't take the final shot in an already decided game. Teams always joke around and are in a good mood when the game has been decided. Yea the D does need improvement, but the biggest place it needs improvement at is the PG position. There's a whole bunch of shoulda, coulda woulda's but the defense was better this game than it was the entire road trip. The only reason why the score doesn't reflect that is because we literally put in our third stringers.

It's one thing for us to expect the Lakers to play a great game, but they aren't perfect and aren't going to be. It's almost like people are growing bored of things to be pissed off about with the team cuz they're so good.

Our record is 17-2 and that's just barely since we only lost by 1 to Indiana.

If they weren't being serious and laughing while we were DOWN 20 as opposed to when we're UP 20 then you'd have a reason to be upset.

It's one thing for us to expect the Lakers to play a great game, but they aren't perfect and aren't going to be. It's almost like people are growing bored of things to be pissed off about with the team cuz they're so good.

Our record is 17-2 and that's just barely since we only lost by 1 to Indiana.

If they weren't being serious and laughing while we were DOWN 20 as opposed to when we're UP 20 then you'd have a reason to be upset.

People just need to calm down. Either that or roll a blunt.

Exactly. I would be upset and find that disturbing, but that's not the case.

Have you watched the Lakers and other teams? That is not uncommon. Teams joke all the time on the bench; the Lakers are not immune to this. I've seen us do that for YEARS; I've seen other teams in the league do that for years. That's just nitpicking. They were respectful when they didn't take the final shot in an already decided game. Teams always joke around and are in a good mood when the game has been decided. Yea the D does need improvement, but the biggest place it needs improvement at is the PG position. There's a whole bunch of shoulda, coulda woulda's but the defense was better this game than it was the entire road trip. The only reason why the score doesn't reflect that is because we literally put in our third stringers.

Just because other teams do it, doesn't mean we should do it. How many other teams won a championship from joking around?

And I don't think the original poster was talking about just tonight. Kobe actually did way better tonight than he did on the other nights this year.

I had a baseball coach that ingrained this into our heads. "Play with respect to the other team, - laughing during the game is disrespectful - be humble about the win (if you win) and give 100% for the whole game no matter how much we are up or down"

Laughing weather on the bench or on the field is disrespectful to the other team, no matter if the laughing is at them or at a silly jokes, leave the jokes for after the game. Give 100% to the game until the last out is made, or in this case until the 4th quarter is over. Anything can happen no matter how much you are winning or losing by.

Just because other teams do it, doesn't mean we should do it. How many other teams won a championship from joking around?

And I don't think the original poster was talking about just tonight. Kobe actually did way better tonight than he did on the other nights this year.

I had a baseball coach that ingrained this into our heads. "Play with respect to the other team, - laughing during the game is disrespectful - be humble about the win (if you win) and give 100% for the whole game no matter how much we are up or down"

Laughing weather on the bench or on the field is disrespectful to the other team, no matter if the laughing at them or at a silly jokes, leave the jokes for after the game. Give 100% to the game until the last out is made, or in this case until the 4th quarter is over. Anything can happen no matter how much you are winning or losing by.

We did during the 3-peat years I've seen Boston do it ALL teams do it so I'm not sure where you're going with that.

If it comes down to a matter of perception, then I'll have to go with the majority of the NBA players and go with "No, I don't think it's disrespectful." The same way if we're getting blown out by 30 points, and the other team is sitting and laughing at each other, not at the players on the court, then I don't see a problem with it.

That imo is nitpicking and I too played sports and I know what it's like to be on the losing and winning end.

The less you shoot the higher you will shoot. Proof:Kobe from 3: 15-52Ariza From 3: 8-29...higher than KobeFarmar from 3: 15-41...higher than KobeSasha from 3:16-44....higher than KobeLamar from 3: 7-16...higher than KobeKobe has the lowest 3 point % on the team besides Luke

(stats not including tonight's 3's except for Kobe's)Fisher and Vlad who have shot the most 3's on the team DO have a higest percentages on the team, but Kobe is shooting 25.5% from 3 point range, even if he make 12 out of the next 12 shots from 3, he wouldn't have the highest percentage, although shooting the second most 3's on the team.

all i'm saying is..Laker Leaders need to lead by example.. they see someone screwing up make it known up 20 or down 20 make it known... instead of laughing they should be paying attention to the action seeing what they can do to make the game better... but you laker fans think what u want. this team is not focused enough to play Boston or Detroit for that matter... were just not mentally tough. I disagree with what the Lakers are doing.. and I feel like they are disrespecting the other team but hey whatever. if we lose on Christmas and the way we are playing now I feel like we probably are going too... I will rest my case.

We have bigger problems to worry than our players laughing (hell, even Boston did it during the PRESEASON)... Like, I don't know, our glaring defensive holes @ PG and SF positions and what to do with Lamar Odom (his brains must be still on vacation or maybe from all that partying).

Edited by Avtomat Kalashnikov, December 07, 2008 - 10:52 PM.

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."Karl Marx

all i'm saying is..Laker Leaders need to lead by example.. they see someone screwing up make it known up 20 or down 20 make it known... instead of laughing they should be paying attention to the action seeing what they can do to make the game better... but you laker fans think what u want. this team is not focused enough to play Boston or Detroit for that matter... were just not mentally tough. I disagree with what the Lakers are doing.. and I feel like they are disrespecting the other team but hey whatever. if we lose on Christmas and the way we are playing now I feel like we probably are going too... I will rest my case.

I agree that there are quite a few things that they need to fix but laughing is not one of them and if that's the crux of your argument then I strongly disagree.